cloth.paper.string

re-awakening

The faintest of freckles have returned across the bridge of my nose.  They were coaxed out by the late morning sun reflected off snow along the trail over the weekend.  The sun and its warmth are oh-so welcome after what seems like the longest and grayest of winters.  We weren't the only ones making our way across the snow this sunny morning...

In looking at these little impressions, I wish had a copy of Track Finder (or better yet, the entire series of those nature study guides).  I've reached a point where I want to broaden my knowledge of the things I see out in the natural world.  More information and with it, more understanding.  The fact that the bird is red or the tree is some sort of pine is no longer enough.  I'm fairly certain this desire is fueled by the incessant "why?" of the toddler that punctuates everything that is said around our home these days.   

Also, it seems that as spoken language has been added to the way my daughter and I communicate, I'm seeing how she experiences the world in a different way.  It's a re-awakening of sorts, seeing my surroundings through my child's eyes.  One that reminds me of what Rachel Carson so eloquently describes in The Sense of Wonder:  A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.
Here's to wiping clean those lenses smeared and smudged in the becoming of an adult; to re-discovering that clear-eyed vision.  To seeing with clarity all that is around us. 

We're off to the Carolinas for the rest of the week to find more freckles, and surely much, much more.  But before I go, remember the little book?  Well, it was part of a collaborative with Alicia, Emily and Erin to celebrate the thirtieth birthday of Grace.  Today's her day.  You can see more of the project (and wish Grace a happy birthday) here.

See you next week, my friends.

winter tracks

My prints for the gocco swap are finally in the mail.  As the organizer, it's a tad embarrassing to admit that I was eight days late in sending off my goods.  I was set back by a self-inflicted bout of last-minute-itis paired with technical difficulties.  Despite the delay, I'm pleased with the results.

I originally set out to make a print with multiple screens.  I hadn't ever done this before and wanted to stretch myself a bit with the swap.  But the image I had in my head I couldn't wrestle onto paper. 

Then I happened upon the tracks of pigeons near a bridge I often cross on my morning walks with the dog.  I knew I had found it. 

I snapped a dozen or so photos and somehow figured out the very most basics of photo-editing to invert and clean the image for the screen.  Then I ran into some problems.  I printed the image on my HP inkjet which, according to many, works just fine.  But I couldn't get the image to burn onto the screen.  I ran through all of my bulbs and still a blank screen.  A panicked order was placed with Wet Paint for more supplies and I set out to find a photocopier so that my image would be ready when the delivery arrived.

A few days later I burned the screen without incident and started on the printing.  My inks are stored, with most of my craft stuff, in my mostly unheated attic.  I quickly learned that the inks aren't as cooperative when they're cold, which really should have been obvious.  While I was frustrated by this at first, it ended up adding an unexpected element to the printing process. 

The shimmering blue I mixed from silver, white and konjou blue ended up relatively solid for the first part of the print run; but when I reinked the screen, subtle variations of blue became apparent across the following prints.  The more I printed, the more I imagined the prints to be like those actual tracks.  With time and temperature the snow would melt, revealing more and more of the surface beneath.  Fitting too, I think for the mid-winter theme.

If you haven't yet, check out the flickr group for the swap.  The creativity of the group continues to amaze me.  While I imagined that there would be a range of things produced and shared, I didn't expect that so many would also share their processes in making their items - in many cases the photos have links to their blog posts about the inspiration and actual crafting of the images.  Be sure to check these out too.

Many have asked if there will be another gocco swap.  I'm planning on it.  There won't be a seasonal theme though -- I now realize that the notion of mid-winter was the last thing many wanted to think about, especially those in the southern hemisphere!  I tend forget that winter doesn't last for six whole months in much of the world...  I'd love to hear feedback on this swap and also suggestions for the next one.  In the meantime, many, many thanks to all of the swap participants for making this swap a success!!

fresh air

More textures from the lake.  I really can't get enough.

Wind-driven sheets of ice along the rocky shore, glowing with the midday sun. 

Rocks bigger than baseballs resting just offshore on melting sheets dusted with the morning's snow.  There are more images over on flickr.

My gocco swap stuff is finally on its way to my fellow swappers.  More on that soon.  And too, on the gocco goodness that is coming into my mailbox.

So many thanks for the get-well wishes.  The flu is lingering, but its grasp isn't nearly as strong and normalcy appears to be on the horizon.  I say that as if I actually know what normalcy looks like... maybe a little something like this week's contribution to Six One Way.

smattering

There's not much focus to be had around here these days.  A stomach flu swept in on early Thursday, and seems to have taken root.  I have yet to actually experience the symptoms firsthand, but have been covered in them repeatedly over the last few days.  Nice.  Four loads of laundry a day nice.  Six pairs of pyjamas and three sets of sheets in one night nice.

I've been able to sneak bits of respite here and there. 

Trimming and packaging of the prints for the gocco swap. 

Practicing knitting with two colors, one in each hand.   

Tonight fresh snow is falling.  Tomorrow is a new day.  I so hope it's one where food stays in the belly of the babe.

folds and freezer paper

It's been a long time since I've made a book.  Too long.  But tonight that changed when I started on a  small book for a collaborative project.  I couldn't have been more pleased with the cutting and folding of paper, the assembly of flat into three dimensional form. 

I'll share more about this project in due time, but for now here's a little of the folds and the freshly freezer-paper-stenciled (yes, that's now a verb) book cloth.  The colors are all funky since I haven't gotten around to making that light box just yet; but rest assured, they're good.  Chartreuse and inky black-blue good.

And the leaves?  They're traced from the vintage fabric that is still in the midst of metamorphosis from skirt to bag.

textural studies

There's a spot by the lake that I've been making a point to visit this week.  While the vantage point is the same, the vista rarely is.  The textures alone are phenomenal.


The ice has been moving in and out with the wind, with the current.  As if the lake is breathing. 
Yesterday, open water filled the same spot beyond the knobby point where ice houses had been set out earlier this week.  Tomorrow, it will surely be changed again.  Even once the head of the lake freezes solid, it will continue to be in a state of flux influenced by wind, light and snow.  I know it is this lake that keeps me going through the longest season; the constant reminder that the world is very much alive, even in the dead of winter.

catch and release

Recently caught bits of light released out into my new favorite flickr pools:

Peels and peeks for Six One Way.

Dusted driftwood for ::fleeting::

new love

I've broken up with the hourglass.  I had searched for ages for the perfect sweater to knit with the wool from my parent's neighbor's sheep.  The wool that I dyed this time last year when the days were gray and dreary.  The yarn that is destined to become the first adult sized garment I've ever knitted.  I honestly thought the hourglass was THE ONE.

After a torrid affair that included knitting about a third of the sweater twice, I realized that there was too much of the same-old same-old.  Too much round and round to keep my attention.  Knit, knit, knit was all that sweater ever wanted.  It refused to challenge me and I clearly wasn't going to grow in the relationship.  So I left it.  Months ago.  And while I knew I wouldn't go back, I didn't have the nerve to tell it that it was over.

But now that I've found a new sweater to invest tens of thousands of stitches in, I have to make it official.  I've been spending all my spare time with this one, sneaking stitches every chance I get.  My new love is the tangled yoke cardigan, and I found it through Ravelry.  I know nothing about online dating, but I can't help but think of Ravelry as the internet matchmaker for knitters and knitting projects.

As might be expected, my new infatuation has prompted me to spiff up my notions bag.   The fabric is linen from a thrifted skirt, the pattern is the travel pouch from Last Minute Fabric Gifts.  A good little bag for all of those knitting tools.  But enough about that, I'm must get back to my knitting affair...

cornucopia

Ages ago I happened upon a pair of screenprinted napkins at a thrift shop and knew immediately that they would make excellent bean bags.  Yesterday, when the allure of the scrap bag had worn off, I dropped my sewing project and engaged the little one in the selecting of fruit and the stuffing of little bags. 

In addition playing food and shapes and colors, we've been tossing around the some new word combinations today:  'buckwheat hulls' and 'hands tucked in' (you know, what you do when you're sitting on your mama's lap and she's about to start sewing).  I'm so glad to have saved -- okay, procrastinated -- this little project until I had a bit of help.  Making with adds a whole other dimension to making for.